Hudson Swafford, the embodiment of the hypothetical question that has preoccupied professional golf for nearly two and a half years, watched the PGA Tour’s fall finale last month with a mixture of envy and relief.
“I wouldn’t want to play today,” Swafford laughed as the RSM Classic field endured bitterly cold conditions and gusty winds off the Atlantic Ocean at 30 mph. “I miss seeing a lot of my friends, that’s for sure, I miss playing at home. Maybe not the time they have today. Time heals many things, that’s for sure.
Sea Island Golf Club is just a few miles from where Swafford lives on St. Simons Island, Ga., but on this windy day the PGA Tour event might as well have been held on another planet.
Swafford was one of the first 17 players suspended by Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in June 2022, shortly after competing in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series event, for violating tour policies regarding conflicting events and media rights .
Since that first wave of suspensions, an unanswered question has hung over the professional game: Would players like Swafford ever be allowed to compete in Tour-sanctioned events again?
Monahan’s initial note addressed the oversized elephant in the room, saying: “We are prepared to answer these questions (if players wish to return to the Tour), and we will approach them in the same manner as we we have done this throughout this period. process: by being transparent and respecting the PGA Tour rules that you helped establish.
Two and a half years later, the return of players who joined the Saudi-backed league has been anything but “transparent” and, thanks to Swafford, the question is no longer hypothetical.
“I don’t know, the Tour has a firm stance on a (one) year suspension (for players who joined LIV Golf); there’s some really gray stuff going on with LIV and I didn’t know if I’d be back with LIV,” Swafford told GolfChannel.com. “I tried to go back (to the PGA Tour) last year, I talked to (Jason Gore, Tour senior vice president, player advisor to the commissioner) and (Monahan) and I thought I had done everything quite cordially, I simply told them how I felt. They were never able to give me an answer.
To be clear, Swafford wants to return to the PGA Tour. He is ready to serve the suspension imposed by the circuit and even pay fines to return. The Tour, however, did not provide Swafford with a clear path forward, despite numerous requests.
According to documents provided during the disclosure phase of the now-dismissed lawsuit between the Tour and LIV Golf, players were initially informed that they would be suspended from participating in Tour-sanctioned events for one year after their last LIV Golf event. . For Swafford, this would mean he would be eligible to compete in Tour-sanctioned events, including Monday qualifying and Korn Ferry Tour events, on September 16, 2025.
A Tour spokesperson declined to comment on a possible suspension or fine for Swafford or whether the 37-year-old would retain his status as a former champion.
“Past champions compete in many fall events, is my former champion status reinstated in September? » asked Swafford. “I can’t get any answers. It’s quite frustrating.
Some of this frustration for Swafford is professional and some of it is personal. After a difficult year as a wild card player on LIV Golf, he finished 55th out of 57 players and is in the league’s “drop zone”, meaning he will be relegated from the league unless he is offered a new contract.
“I played poorly the last two years because of a hip injury. I struggled, my golf game struggled. I wasn’t doing what I was good at, I was having difficulty with the driver,” Swafford said. “That’s the first thing I want to do is have fun with golf again, then focus on the opportunities.”
With the Tour’s lack of clarity on its way back, its options are limited to the LIV Golf “promotions” event this month in Riyadh, which would offer a return to the LIV, and begins on the international series of the Asian Tour. His professional limbo is particularly concerning given that the framework agreement, which was announced in June 2023 and ended the dispute between the Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, specifically laid the groundwork for a return of LIV players to the Tour.
“Subject to execution of the Final Agreement, the PIF, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any player wishing to reapply for membership in the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour…to determine fair criteria and readmission conditions consistent with each tour’s policies,” the agreement states.
Swafford said he spoke with Monahan again in October at the DP World Tour’s Dunhill Links Championship and hopes his plight can pave the way for a broader reunification of the professional game.
“I feel like it’s a big deal. I know I’m not the first guy they wanted to come back, but I feel like they need guys to start coming back,” Swafford said.
What exactly a return to the Tour looks like for LIV players is one of the biggest issues slowing down negotiations between the Tour and PIF, according to a policy committee member, and Swafford suggested the issue could still be more complicated when it comes to some of gaming’s biggest stars who have joined LIV.
“I had to sit out for a year at the last LIV event, but a guy like Brooks (Koepka) and Bryson (DeChambeau) isn’t going to do that to get back on Tour. They (the Tour) really don’t know,” Swafford said. “What surprises me is that the guys are coming back to the DP World Tour, they paid their fine and now they have carte blanche. Why are you going to close the big names?
Players who joined LIV were allowed to participate in DP World Tour events provided they paid substantial fines; however, Jon Rahm challenged these fines and was allowed access to events during the review process. Swafford said the return of the LIV abyss for European players, as well as the PGA Tour’s “strategic alliance” with the DP World Tour, sends players a mixed message.
“I understand that (the Tour) has taken a tough stance, but the DP World Tour has taken the opposite path. Bernd Wiesberger was pretty much in my situation and went straight back to DP World, his suspension was three events and was able to start playing,” Swafford said.
Swafford also said he would be curious to know what would happen if the Tour and PIF reached an agreement almost a year after the framework agreement’s deadline, but he understands that if he wants to revisit the Turn, he will have to pay for his pound of flesh.
“My first goal is to get my golf game back to where it was in 2021; It’s been miserable and things off the course have impacted that. It’s definitely been a rollercoaster ride,” he said. “They need someone to come back, I don’t think golf is big enough to be completely separated. The best players have to compete more than four times a year.
The road back to the Tour is personal for Swafford and he also understands that it’s complicated, but as the Tour season ended at Sea Island, Swafford’s desire to return sent a clear message: This question doesn’t matter. is more hypothetical.
